ENHANCING DEVELOPMENT EFFECTIVENESS THROUGH EXCELLENCE AND INDEPENDENCE IN EVALUATION

The Operations Evaluation Department (OED) is an independent unit within the World Bank; it reports directlyto the Banks Board of Executive Directors. OED assesses what works, and what does not; how a borrower plansto run and maintain a project; and the lasting contribution of the Bank to a countrys overall development. Thegoals of evaluation are to learn from experience, to provide an objective basis for assessing the results of theBanks work, and to provide accountability in the achievement of its objectives. It also improves Bank work byidentifying and disseminating the lessons learned from experience and by framing recommendations drawn fromevaluation findings.

29 4. Country Strategies, Instruments, and Outcomes29 Corporate Selectivity and Country Strategies32 Country Strategies and Instrument Choice

32 Defining Comparative Advantage Depends on Partners33 Logical Framework Application in the CAS34 Country Strategies Are Dominated by Lending35 Country Strategies in the Absence of a Lending Program37 Risk Management Through Gradual Engagement/Disengagement

37 How Instruments Contribute to Country Outcomes37 Country Capacity38 Borrower Commitment and Policy Environment39 Directions for Effective Instrument Use in Country Strategies

This study was published in the Partnershipsand Knowledge Group (OEDPK) by the Out-reach and Dissemination Unit. The task teamincludes Elizabeth Campbell-Pag (task teamleader), Caroline McEuen (editor), and JuicyQureishi-Huq (administrative assistant).

Director-General, Operations Evaluation: Robert Picciotto

Director, Operations Evaluation Department:

Gregory Ingram

Manager, Corporate Evaluations and Methods:

Victoria Elliott

Task Manager: William Battaile

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FOREWORD

In the face of a rapidlychanging development

agenda, the World Bank has provenremarkably flexible in adapting andexpanding its operational toolkit.New lending instruments, analyticaltools, and partnership arrangementshave emerged to respond to the myr-iad needs and preferences of bor-rowers and to implement corporatestrategies. These innovations havecontributed to improvements in pro-ject and program performance.

The broad endorsement of theMillennium Development Goalswithin the development commu-nity has put the spotlight on theresults of development activities.Accordingly, attainment of tan-gible, measurable, and sustainableimprovements in the health, edu-cation, and standard of living ofthe worlds poor is the overarch-ing challenge facing the Bank andits development partners.

This is the fifth Annual Reviewof Development Effectiveness(ARDE). The 1997 Review con-centrated on the linkages betweenaid and development. The 1998Review reflected the lessons ofthe East Asia financial crisis. The1999 Review looked at the chal-lenges of implementing the Com-prehensive DevelopmentFramework, and identified prom-ising practices for dealing withthem, predicated on strong coun-try commitment to poverty reduc-tion and sustainable growth. The2000 Review concluded that theBank could implement its strate-gies more effectively by judicious